#durge: hrodak

[spellshite]

Ho there traveler! What news does your Tav bring? Some questions, if I may ask!

1) What's your Tav's name, race, class and background?

6) What would the player gradually learn about your Tav in that quest? Would it have relevance to a place / an event / a character / a theme in the in-game campaign?

15) What sort of general decisions would your Tav approve or disapprove of? Are there any particular driving decisions? (ex. saving or raiding the grove, how you handle other companions, dealing with a specific thing they love/hate, etc…)

Cheers~ 🧡

Hello there stranger, and thank you for your questions! Tav and Durges have all something to say~

(asks from here)

1) what's your Tav's name, race, class and background?

Kylech, Asmodeus Tiefling, Illusion Wizard, Entertainer.

Hrodak, Half-Orc, Berserker Barbarian, Haunted One (alt: Outlander)

Xarann, Lolth-sworn Drow, Necromancer Wizard, Haunted One (alt: Urchin)

6) What would the player gradually learn about your Tav in that quest? Would it have relevance to a place / an event / a character / a theme in the in-game campaign?

In Kylech's personal arc, you'll learn how his being cheery and light-hearted is a facade to hide his insecurities, and how he sees himself as just a failed wizard who can use illusion magic only to conjure some trick to entertain people. There's the theme of learning to appreciate oneself and learning that one doesn't have to be powerful to be liked. As for relevant of places and such, you'd learn that he was originally from Elturel but left the city when he was an ambitious young teen who had just figured out he could use magic. And that when the Mind Flayers kidnapped people, it happened while he was travelling with a troupe of artists to Waterdeep for a spectacle (and because he wanted to know the Wizard of Waterdeep).

Xarann's personal arc is about self-discovery and becoming a better version of themselves. He doesn't remember what he was before the tadpole (like all durges), but he grasped hard at the vague memory of his drow life and worship of Lolth. He doesn’t understand the Urge that eats at him: his personal quests are tied to that. Probs would be like "what if Durge was a companion?" kinda thing. You'll later learn that he was of a lower class in Menzoberranzan and then caught and turned into a Bhaalspawn when he was very young.

Hrodak...hm. I think he'd be the one with the hardest personal quests as he mainly embraces the Urge and cares little about who he was before, but there's always the possibility to sway him away from that ofc but won't be easy. But it's possible. And what you learn about him will vary depending on which direction you choose for his personal quest. (I'm still working on his arc as companion tbh)

15) What sort of general decisions would your Tav approve or disapprove of? Are there any particular driving decisions? (ex. saving or raiding the grove, how you handle other companions, dealing with a specific thing they love/hate, etc…)

I might have a mental list of all the approval/disapproval things for all three, but let's try to make it short...kinda?

Kylech: he's chaotic more good than neutral, so there are some things in grey areas that could make you get his approval like successfully deceive/persuade an enemy to let you pass or in general lying your way in/out of situations. There's a long list of things I could list for his approvals (and disapprovals), but I'll try to write only the *main* decisions: side with the Tieflings and help them, if you decide to raid the Grove he will permanently leave after a short dialogue at Goblin Camp where he asks if you're really going to do that... Companion-wise: helping Gale is a big yes, as siding with Karlach and Wyll, if you kill Karlach (either by the river or in the confrontation with Mizora) he'll leave camp. He's okay with helping Astarion against the monster hunter, bonus approval if you pick the "I didn't know you were also racist" dialogue option.

Hrodak: You can get approval raiding the Grove, but he doesn't really care about anything other than killing, so saving the Grove is on the plate bc he can always kill the cultists. It will seem a weird thing but spare Owlbear mother (if he's already in your party) and then make the cub join camp will give you approval, same with Scratch. If you took the evil route, he'd approve of siding with the caravan and killing the Harpers but won't disapprove if you betray the cultists, and ofc letting him kill Isobel at Last Light for a big fat approval buff (and maybe something else if you tried to romance him). Oh and torture Liam and get uh- punished by Abdirak are other approvals, the latter also gives inspiration.

Xarann: he's trying to become a better person, but being a Durge makes him easy to sway. If he joined your party early (either after the crash or around the Blighted Village) he will be strongly against raiding the Grove, but if you pass some checks you could gain the possibility to make him believe it was a means to ends (but will still give you disapproval). Either help him find it or give him the Necromancy of Thay to get a big approval buff. Anything Lolth-related will give you approval (bonus inspiration when you read the Drow Matron text). Choosing the Underdark route will give you approval. Play the Spider's Lyre is another approval. Other things may depend on which direction his personal quest has taken, and for the evil route you have some checks to pass to convince him that embracing the Urge is the right thing to do. There would be a scene where he reveals the Urge in the good route, and you get a lot of disapproval if you downplay/dismiss his concerns.

[demondepresso]

Here it is the finished result of my screenshot redraw!

I did it mostly to practice a bit with shading and figuring out proportions/anatomy but without fussing about it too much...so- yeah, if you wanna complain because I drew over/traced a screenshot, go do it somewhere I can't see you. Let me chill how I want 'mkay? I still put 4.5 hrs of work on this thing.

The speedpaint/timelapse is on my clockapp profile! You can find the video linked under the cut :)

[spellshite]

... I played around a bit and ended up making moodboards for my tav/durge(s) romances with the images i had in a forgotten folder in my computer

[spellshite]

POV: you got the Bad Ending for Hrodak and he turned into the Chosen of Bhaal.

If you were trying to redeem him but failed, congrats: roll for initiative.

If you were following the evil route, congrats: you have now a strong ally but he'll take control of the Netherbrain for Bhaal.

[demondepresso]

What I should be finishing VS What I'm actually doing

[spellshite]

OKAY GUYS I'M BACK WITH A POLL

Context: Hrodak is freed of Bhaal's blood and the Urge. I'm tempted to swap his eye colour to show this change: has always had Red 2 for colour and I was thinking to give him a brown shade now (ideally a reddish brown but I'll work with what there's available).

BUT I love his vibe with the red eyes bc he looks more menacing, imho.

Red 2 eyes he always had -> Brown 1 eyes as "I'm freed from Bhaal"?

[spellshite]

I wanted to make some comparison between my characters through the three acts, minus Uruz because my dear bonk is barely at the start of Act 1.

Kylech - Hrodak - Xarann

Kylech and Xarann feel like they had a glow-up by either end Act 2 or in early Act 3. While Hrodak doesn't look like he has changed at all lmao

[spellshite]

Soooooooo... I now have: Insecure Illusion Wizard, Bloodthirsty Berserker, Edgelord Necromancer and Himbo Monk

What they have in common? Other than being four kind of fruits? I have no idea. Also I wanted to give Uruz (the monk) earrings instead of the septum ring, but OG Uruz had it...and also earrings but I can't have both :(

Also, looking a these icons I made for them makes me think they are on four opposite sides of some kind of chart but I have no clue what kind of chart it might be.

[spellshite]

Hrodak: hm, better go to sleep before trying to find a way to enter Baldur's Gate without dealing with the Steelwatch at the border. I feel I'll end up fighting anyway.

Vlaakith: [appears to shout at Lae'zel and threaten and etcetera]

Karlach: ...bro soldier, I don't feel good. I might blow up soon, I guess. Yolo.

Emperor: [appears in dream]

Hrodak:

[spellshite]

Well hello there! Got some Tav asks for your crew~

6) Best Kept Secret?

11) Pet Peeve(s)?

19) Fondest Memory?

Cheers! :)

Hello again!! And asdsdfdf thank you for the asks!!! :D

(ask game here)

6) Best Kept Secret?

Xarann: that he killed Alfira. He'll take that to the grave even if sometimes he still tries to wash off the blood from his hands à la Lady Machbeth. He couldn't keep his Urge secret anymore, but will never say anything about that first and only kill. He regrets it so much he asked Withers to get her back.

Hrodak: I feel like he's not really type for secrets, unless keeping things from others might be useful to keep their trust. The whole Bhaalspawn thing is a big secret, but currently he doesn't even know it and it's not like he'd tell about that creepy butler he'd kick like a gith egg football to see how high it soars. OH! Oh, there's a well kept secret: he can't stop fantasizing how he'd kill each one of his companions. (<- since the first thing he thought seeing astarion was how he'd be a beautiful corpse, I imagine that at a certain point he pictured all the others in a similar way)

Kylech: other than he's an insecure guy that keeps an optimistic and cheery facade? Hm. That for a good moment he was seriously thinking to strike a deal with Raphael, how worse it could go since he's in the middle of nowhere with a mindflayer worm in his head and cultists hunting them down? Also, he's still holding onto the Necromancy of Thay but lacks the courage to actually read it.

11) Pet Peeve(s)?

Kylech: basic stuff I think? Don't call him "naive" only because he's nice, anything racist against Tieflings (but also racist towards others), being treated like an idiot... and blatantly out of tune musical instruments (or people who do not even bother to get a note right).

Hrodak: being bothered while he's eating/drinking, being considered all brawn and no brains (sorry bud but you have -1 int you *are* all brawn), being provoked but he's quite...snappy and it's difficult to narrow that down. Don't touch his things or you'll lose an arm. People too nice/good annoy him a lot but he doesn't know if he hates them because they are benevolent or because he has no clue on how he should react to them.

Xarann: call him "under elf" and in all his mighty -1 strength will sock you one in the face like he did with Aradin. Do not comment (negatively ofc) his decision to follow Lolth even if he's trying to be a good person. Doesn't like being considered the stereotypical evil Drow, but he can be a bit of an asshole and that doesn't help.

19) Fondest Memory?

Kylech: it's difficult to pick a fondest memory for him. Probably when he first received compliments for his magic skills and when people applauded him during his first spectacle. More recently, there's the memory of dancing with Wyll at the camp: a light in that endless night of the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Hrodak: memories are all messed up and he's not sure of what he remembers. Has a very vague memory of him playing in a field with someone or something but nothing much. Otherwise, most of his kills are fond memories, at least for his Urge.

Xarann: Gale reassuring him and calming him down that night the Urge wanted to kill him, and that other night spent with Gale. Those make him feel that there's hope for him and that someone cares about him. There's also a vague memory of himself as a kid reading a book, he doesn't remember the content but remember an illustration depicting Lolth.

[spellshite]

When you keep helmets always hidden and forget about them until the cutscene. I need to see if I have a save close to this point so I can remove the helmet and see Orin speaking as Hrodak. I want to see him talk jfc

But still, he looks damn good with the whole bonespike set. The only thing ruining it is the Gauntlets of Hill Giant Strength. I didn't find the gloves...

EDIT: I checked the wiki and looks like I didn't find them because I didn't loot the Bhaalist who had them before killing Orin and the corpse de-spawned. I was *this close* to having a full set but- oh, well. I'm not going to redo that part since I will never be able to roll a Nat 20 again while talking to Orin. Also, I accidentally entered a "secret" area filled with cursed mummies and it was bothersome to kill them all when Shartie and Gale couldn't use spells bc of Spell Rot. Yeah, not doing all that again.

[spellshite]

Anyway now my boy Sceleritas resides inside a ribcage container I looted. At first I hated him but he was just a widdle hype man too devoted to his job.

Ah, and I put the ribcage container not inside the crate with the body parts but in the elaborate reliquary Hrodak looted from the Nautiloid. He keeps in there the keepsakes of killed people, so most fitting that Sceleritas would end up there in the place of honour.

Wondering if to try using Speak with Dead on him, though. I know Xarann would do that, but Hrodak idk... probably?

[spellshite]

The sweetest fucking thing he ever said... and he said it dressed like that.

[spellshite]

I loved how there was no disappoval from anyone in the party (I expected either Gale or Shadowheart to not like my choice, Astarion probs would have approved IMHO) when I let the Urge do some uh- burying.

And I decided to imagine the scene like the party at this point know Hrodak (and the whole Bhaalspawn thing) and don't really flinch at the stuff he does anymore. Unless it's something that has some more morals implications.

[spellshite]

Hrodak found a skeleton that can be used as a container and now that skeleton contains: 1 candle, 22 balls, 1 owlbear plushie, 1 owlbear beak, 3 collars, 3 dogs stolen from the Durinbold Mausoleum (sad to kill those ghostly good bois and girl so I took them with me, no the skeleton isn't their handler, even if it worked as container too).

He's still mad that he couldn't grab the dead giant spider when he could lift the spectator with no issue. 23 STR and he couldn't lift 120kg of spider, but 110 of spectator were fine.

[spellshite]

idk how to call this... Incorrect Tav/Durge quotes, probably?